Wednesday, October 31, 2012

A couple weeks back I managed to pick up a copy of Dave
Bezio’s X-Plorers down at Gary’s Games in Greenwood. A lot of people over the
last couple years have suggested I pick this one up due to my A)
dissatisfaction with most space opera RPGs on the market and B) my love of
things “old school” and somewhat “rules light.” However, until recently the
thing wasn’t available in a print form that I could pick up and hold and
flip-through and read…at least not that I’d seen down at my FLGS.

See, I’m a weird dude. I read email and comments (here
and on certain forums) fairly regularly from folks complaining that I don’t
offer my books in an electronic or PDF format (though, yes, I do offer my B/XCompanion in such a format these days)…but for me, it is extremely rare that I
will EVER fork out hard-earned cash for anything less than a solid, tangible
product. I can’t be sure, but I think the only time I’ve made such a purchase
(at least in recent memory) was Raggi’s Death Frost Doom, and I was terribly
disappointed (not because it was a bad adventure, but because I ended up
blowing a bunch of ink and paper to print the damn thing…I just don’t like
reading books off a screen!).

[oh, wait…I also purchased a copy of 3:16 in electronic
format, too]

So anyhoo…I’m an anachronistic kind of guy and unless
something is readily available for me to buy in a physical format I generally
won’t…such was the case with X-Plorers. I had previously browsed the free
version on-line, but truth-be-told I didn’t pay all that much attention to it,
being put off by the large swatches of blank space (compared to, say, the
downloadableTerminal Space)…it gave the whole text a feeling of…well, a fairly
amateur effort I guess.

[to understand my bias, you have to grok that I’ll write
up 30 pages of game rules and charts myself that, save for the nifty spaceship
diagrams, look about as good and yet are nothing I’d consider publishing…]

So fast forward to me shelling out hard currency and
holding the glossy soft-cover in my hands…Bezio’s book is great, and I was VERY
impressed when I saw the printed book. Previously, I’ve written a brief piece
on my thoughts of Terminal Space and a rather lengthy bit on my feelings for
SWN but I’ve got to say that between these three Old School offerings of space
opera fantasy, X-Plorers has got to be my favorite of the bunch…something I was
not ready to say prior to holding the solid work in my grubby grasp. Here’s
why:

X-Plorers isn’t “dungeon-delving in space.” It’s not
“space opera on a B/X chassis.” Heck, I wouldn’t even call it a “what if RPG
that examines an alternate reality where the designers of D&D instead chose
to focus their efforts on pulp Sci-Fi” (which is, pretty much, the objective
laid out by the author).

Nope, what we have here is a mash-up of Star Frontiers
and Swords & Wizardry (the OD&D retroclone) with a tiny bit of D20
sensibility thrown in to boot. And Star Frontiers (which I’ve lambasted
system-wise on more than one occasion) has never looked so good.

The fact it can do this in under 40 pages is truly
remarkable.

Now my own “B/X space opera” game (on-hold lo these many
moons as I’ve pursued the development of my DMI-based system) shares a number
of similarities with X-Plorers, which probably goes a long way towards
endearing it to me, especially as Bezio has managed to articulate some things
better than I ever did. His spaceship combat system is very close to my own,
but better done, and his classes and level structure…and especially his
class-related skill checks…are very similar to my original ideas and I
especially like the particular archetypes he’s chosen, and their corresponding
overlap of skills. Interesting that I can see the integration of Star Frontiers
skills into the classes in a very logical and intuitive way…as someone who
played a lot of SF back-in-the-day I find this ingenious, even if it is a no-brainer
in retrospect.

Allow me a moment to gush over some of the additional
highlights (*ahem*):

-Compacted Star Frontiers equipment list; keeping
the flavor without going over-board (to we really need rules for a recoilless
rifle? No…and Bezio leaves it out, while still including sonic swords and
lasers and SEUs). Kudos especially to adequately adapting the system to its
OD&D base.

Now it’s not a perfect game. Some of the “low lights” are
pretty critical ones. Without getting TOO nitpicky I’ll say the multi-classing
doesn’t work, or else doesn’t make much sense…I understand what his objective
was, but it just doesn’t translate in execution (quick! Your character starts
as a level one warrior and advances five levels in scientist…how many XPs does
it take you to achieve 7th level?). It’s just not quite as slick as
it could have been…but I understand that it’s tough to make the
“warrior-botanist,” etc. without it, since most specific procedures (i.e.
“skills”) are tied directly to class.

The other main issue is the lack of guidance on how much
XP to award for successful “missions.” Well, the guidelines for mission
creation in general is pretty sparse, but especially with regard to
reward/advancement there’s little guidance aside from “whatever feels right” (I
guess). Which, to me, is a fairly big cop-out of game design, though I suppose
it beats the alternative of trying to make sense of a nonsensical advancement
system (which is something I’ve struggled with for years now in attempting to
write an intelligent space opera game).

Those are the main gripes, though of course X-Plorers
isn’t really built to do Star Wars (which is kind of the point…for me…of
writing/playing a space opera game). If I wanted to do Star Frontiers with
players working for the PGC against the evil Sathar and space pirates, etc.
this would be the system to use…I don’t think it would be too hard to come up
with rules for dralasites and vrusk and yazirians (either making them their own
classes or else having an XP up-tick in exchange for a few species related
bennies).

Actually, X-Plorers is slick enough (and sleek enough)
that it should be a real piece o easy to adapt a LOT of classic space opera
ideas to it…including Star Wars. Hell, like I said it’s already pretty similar
to the B/X Star Wars I was working on prior to DMI. I am sorely tempted to create
a compatible supplement using the terms of their X-Plorers Trademark License
using the rules and notes I’ve already got archived on the old zip drive.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

I don't post a lot of news on my blog, but as I was considering yet another Star Wars-type post today anyway (actually, I was going to discuss Bezio's X-Plorers), I might as preempt my normal musings with this bit of topical whatnot.

Not only that, they've announced they're doing a seventh movie. Double-wow-holy-shit.

You folks have to consider that for most of the weekend I spent every free moment reading Kaminski's Secret History of Star Wars to get an idea of the loop-de-loop my brain is doing at the moment. But I'll get into that more later (hopefully).

Thursday, October 25, 2012

[sorry this has taken so long to get back to this
post…you can read part 1 here. I started writing the follow-up post about five
weeks ago. I’m finishing it up today]

Fall in Seattle…definitely my favorite time of year.
Still sunny, but the air is getting cool and crisp…long sleeves and jeans (my
preferred mode of dress) but jackets not yet required. Flannel shirt weather.
Lumberjack weather. Football weather.

And school’s back in session…which for me means having
access to the internet once again. At least during the day, as my normal
workload permits. Wouldn’t want to get in hot water with the regular job,
job-type job.

‘Cause that’s what it’s all about, right? Keeping that
gig, earning that paycheck, making that mortgage payment, and keeping the
running beagles in kibble. If you can’t do that (and can’t keep the fridge
stocked with beer) then it’s hard to enjoy your evening narcotic of television.
Hard to care about the woes of the local sports team when you’re having a tough
time putting food on the table.

It’s all about the Benjamins.

That’s the epiphany I had the other day with regard to
game design…or rather, with regard to fantasy adventure game design. It’s the
state of affairs that really drives the Old School style of role-playing; the
thing that makes D&D (at least as originally conceived) so damn successful.
MONEY…it’s the ultimate carrot, the thing that makes the world go ‘round.

At least from a GAME perspective, it’s the ultimate
motivator. But, here…let me back up the train for a moment and give everyone a
chance to get on-board with my usual meandering thought process:

[and just before I begin, please realize I know and
understand that REAL LIFE humans are motivated by far more things than simply
money. Love, family, work, art, nation, God, etc. all can and do drive people
in real life at least as much, if not more so, than simple piles of cash]

A few weeks ago I asked folks to submit to me their desire
as to which project they’d like me to work on. I, in my normal whimsical
fashion, completely disregarded these suggestions and started writing a brand
new freaking game (actually, “completely disregard” is a little too strong…I
feel very guilty and have the list of suggestions…with tally marks…still logged
into my phone. One day…). The idea for the game came (as they sometimes do)
pretty much fully formed into my brain after an afternoon nap with the beagles.
I woke up with an idea and started scribbling furiously until I had something
with some semblance of playability, semi-ready for testing.

Well, as I mentioned in my earlier post I DID have a
chance to test it and there was a lot of good stuff and fun things to take away
from it, but there were also issues regarding the motivation of the characters
and the game mechanics associated with them. See, I’ve gotten more and more
into this idea of “no useless mechanics” over the years (who doesn’t like that
idea?) and yet to this end I’ve repurposed some traditionally useless mechanics
(like “alignment”) to make it useful…by incorporating it into a reward system
that encourages a particular play-style and behavior in game. To put it more
simply, I want to encourage role-playing mechanically though in more real,
concrete, specific ways.

Why? Because it’s fun and it’s one of the main, cool
advantages a tabletop RPG has over a computer RPG.

[now this post isn’t about role-playing, so if you need
to grok my particular philosophy on role-playing, what it is and isn’t, etc.,
you’ll probably want to check out SOME OF THESE OTHER POSTS, because I’m not
going to bother to explain it here]

Anyway, in creating this new fantasy adventure game (or
“FAG;” let’s just get that unfortunate acronym out in the open, shall we?) I
tried to incorporate some of my thoughts, reflections, and theories into the
design, particularly with regard to:

a)Personality mechanics that had tangible in-game
effects,

b)Reward mechanics that ran based of behavior,

c)All working together within the logic of the
game and its setting.

This is something I’ve done to a lesser extent with CDF
and my B/X space opera projects, but I really wanted to get it wired in and
refined for this new Lost World game. And the end result (in testing) was mixed
at best: it worked…and it didn’t.

What I TRIED to do was think of all the possible
motivations an adventurer in the setting would have for going out on an
adventure in the first place…

[this ends the section I was writing in September…here’s
the completion of the thought]

The MECHANICS of the Lost World game worked fairly
good…we ended up creating surprisingly rich and interesting characters, with
motivations and backgrounds “built-in” in a very short amount of time, simply
based on the chargen process (i.e. the rules do not require a huge amount of
player input in the same way as, say, a White Wolf RPG). But then, we got to
the adventure (a re-purposed X1: Isle of Dread…hey, the game has a B/X base and
it’s about dinosaur lost worlds!) and everything fizzled.

That is to say, the PLAYER motivation fizzled. Or,
rather, the player SELF-motivation fizzled.

How many GMs have experienced this before: players show
up, interested and raring to go, but with absolutely no idea what they’re
supposed to do? Their characters are like race cars stuck in neutral…they look
great, they can rev their engines by stepping on the gas, but they don’t
actually GO anywhere. And if they (individually) step on the gas too hard, they
blow their engine.

Ugh…maybe that’s a poor analogy; let’s try something
different. I guess I’m going to have to start a totally new post after all!

[part 3 of this post will go up after I manage to offend some sensibilities with my segue post...sorry for the delay...]

Monday, October 22, 2012

...had the chance to watch Anonymous the other night. Wow. Quite an interesting tale for folks who are into Shakespeare and Elizabethan England, etc. But I'm not going to write about that. It IS a good film for folks who like, um, good film.

Instead, just wanted to say I"m still waiting for my book (damn mail order), AND to bide my time I've been reading all the articles on Mr. Kasmink's web site. And I am just more and more intrigued about the "stuff" that has gone into the making of the Star Wars franchise, especially the input (credited or not) of strong female creative types, specifically Marcia Lucas (GL's first wife) and Leigh Brackett.

Unfortunately (or not) I am not someone who is particularly well-versed in science fiction literature. Oh, I've read a bit more than perhaps the average person (I've probably read a few more books than the average American anyway), but I am by no means a "SciFi buff" unlike, say, my buddy Steve. And especially unlike ol Steve-O, I could care less about most of the semblance of "hard science" (whether well done/researched or not)...I care far less for the "real possibilities" of "what could be." As with nearly all my fiction reading, I am drawn far more to "fantasy adventure" (whether in space or not). Stirling's recent retreads of Burrough's planetary romances are much more my speed than anything involving nanoware or AI or plasma rocket powered space travel.

And, man, doesn't it sometimes feel like women authors/artists are the ones creating the best fantasy adventure stories?

I know I spoke about this before (if briefly)...at least my attachment to female authors of the fantasy genre, not specifically the SciFi genre. Although, last year about this time I was mulling over the role of family in science fiction (with regard to game design), and it seems like I'm once again contemplating it...especially in light of Marcia Lucas's admonishment for George to pay more attention to the human element in his films (from THX on...). Maybe that's what's missing from the Star Wars prequels...maybe that's what's missing from my own space opera game. The "human interest" element of the speace opera genre.

Because unlike, say, the indie RPG Shock I'm not really interested in the "what if" of science fiction...I don't really care much about the affects of future technology on our recalcitrant human race's inability to deal with change and on-going evolution (I have a hard enough time trying to figure out my damn "smart" phone in real life...why do I want to deal with these issues in an RPG?). What I AM interested in is (duh) fantasy adventure and laser swords and blasters and androids and space ship dog fights...and maybe all that means I need to have something very intimate and human as part of the mix, so as not to be a coldly mechanical (think GURPS) role-playing game.

After all, it's not like the PCs are looking to find gold coins in outer space. I need SOMEthing to encourage the players to take action in the game.

[by the way, I have much more to say about player character motivation based on recent play-tests and conversations with other gamers; I just don't have the time for it at the moment. Soon, I hope]

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

My toast was terrible this morning. All the more so
because I’m the one responsible for making it.

I’ve raved before about England’s toast; as far as I’m
concerned the people of Great Britain seem to have perfected the art of
toasting bread. I found most of England’s cuisine to be scrumptious actually…some
people might think that odd but I’m from Seattle where we seem to have a
passion for breakfast food, pub food, and beer, three things England does
better than most. Every culture has its specialties after all.

On the other hand, the consistently worst country for
breakfast (in my opinion) was Italy. I’m not sure Italians actually eat
“breakfast;” it may just be something they whip together for the tourists. I
will never forget staying at an (otherwise) very nice “bed & breakfast” in
Venice and being served “toast” that was packaged in a stamped cellophane
pouch, similar to freeze-dried astronaut food. I kid thee not.

My toast this morning was very much like that Venician
toast…in both consistency and flavor. And mine, I know, started out as bread.
That is a verifiable fact. Truly terrible.

But fortunately (and this is the reason I bring it up), I
was serving said toast ONLY to myself. Terrible as it was, I was the only
person experiencing it…I wasn’t serving it up to anyone or forcing it down
someone’s throat. It was MY bad breakfast, and I chose to eat it (‘cause I was
pressed for time and it was what I had and I’m really trying not to waste food
these days) and that was my “little piece o suffering.” But I wasn’t buttering
it up for the masses and trying to call it gourmet or something.

Yesterday, I did something I almost never ever do: I paid
money for a book at Barnes & Noble that wasn’t actually in stock; a book
that will actually have to be mailed to me because it’s print-on-demand. And I
did that because after being off work since last Wednesday, I spent the first
half of my work day reading the book’s first hundred pages on-line (for free)
instead of getting to my backlog…and if I’d had the entire book available, I
probably wouldn’t have gotten ANYthing done yesterday. The book in question?

Just fascinating, fascinating reading. It’s something
I’ve been interested in reading since I heard about it a year or two ago (it
was on last year’s Christmas list but I didn’t get it), and I finally had a
chance to read some excerpts from Kaminski’s web site. Love it…I’m into
histories/biographies, especially those of struggling artists/writers (as Lucas
once was), I love “behind-the-scenes” insights and info (“the dirt”) on
subjects that already have known or accepted histories. I enjoy seeing the
human side of larger-than-life icons. And, of course, I am a pretty big Star
Wars fanatic.

I was reading back through myStar Wars posts on this
blog, and I was surprised to find ‘em some of my better posts. Now I may well
be biased, but I did think they were a bit different and surprisingly
insightful (or at least “interesting”)…at least, compared to what my memory
remembered them being. But what I really liked was the (mostly) consistent
thread running through them: an appreciation for the films as entertainment,
for Lucas as a filmmaker, and for the EU (“expanded universe”) as a creative
effort…and a dissatisfaction with pandering and pastiche, even in Lucas’s own
work.My feelings on these things
haven’t changed, and may have even been emphasized by what I’ve read so far in
Kaminski’s book. But, man…I’m kind of fed up with “ret-conned” history. I’m
kind of bugged by disingenuousness (wow, spell-check is saying that’s a word!).

N

ow I get it…really, I get it. The whole thing is
complicated. The push-and-pull of fame and fortune and legacy and insecurity
and people telling you you’re a genius and finding you ARE a genius and
allowing a little creative embellishment here and there get out of hand, plus
giving your fans what they want, plus being a filmmaker and needing to ply the
filmmaker’s trade (including edits of one’s baby) and then trying to find a
cohesive filmmaker’s way of putting those cutting room scraps back into
theaters in a different fashion…I GET IT. Really. The fact is: the truth is
(often) complicated. Or rather, the truth isn’t complicated but the WHOLE
truth, understanding it all, is a lot more complicated than the meat, or rather
the KERNEL of the truth.

Which is part of why I find Kaminski’s book such a
must-read…I personally am fascinated with the “complication” AND I want to know
what the kernel of the “truth” is. For those not interested in reading it
themselves, I’ll provide the Cliff Notes version:

The Truth: George Lucas wanted to make a Flash Gordon
movie the same way, say, that I want to write a Star Wars RPG. It’s not what he
dreamed about doing as a child (when he wanted, perhaps, to be a race car
driver), but a bunch of stuff combined to lead him to setting that goal.

The Complicated Truth (Cliff Notes): While one can argue
the success or failure of his goal (i.e. “The Truth”), his work (or should I
say his Work) morphed into something that transcended anything even Lucas could
have imagined, and he has both “rolled with it,” profited by it, and attempted
to manage and direct it (with varying degrees of success) ever since. And I’m
not just talking about the “post-first-trilogy” or even “post-first-film”
expansion of the Star Wars universe/franchise/mythology/legacy. I’m talking
about even before PRE-production of the first film, the thing (his original
goal) started morphing…and has snowballed (my, has it snowballed!) ever since.

Crazy.

Anyway, the really interesting thing (well, actually, I
find it all “really interesting” but the really, REALLY interesting thing) for
me is the earliest drafts of his space film treatments, which I find at least
as compelling as the story he eventually told, if not more compelling. Oh, I’m
not talking about the “space version” of Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress, I’m
talking about “The Journal of the Whills” (actually sounds like a pretty good
book) and the second and/or third treatments of “The Star Wars.”

I should probably explain (at this point, finally) my
whole reason for once again having Star Wars on the brain. My son, my
20-month-old toddler has discovered Star Wars…and loves it. Now, it would be
truly disingenuous of me to declare I’m a “terrible” father; I know I’m pretty
loving and attentive, with a fair amount of sternness that leads my child to be
both A) happy most of the time, and B) well behaved (in public and private)
most of the time. And by most of the time, I mean around 98%...he really is a
jewel of a kid. But recently, it seems like more than half of his vocabulary
seems to consist of “Seahawks,” “touchdown,” and “boom” or else Star Wars
references…with the SW words definitely having the upper hand the last couple
weeks. And this leads me to think I may be doing bad, bad things to my boy’s
childhood development process.

The fact that he can perfectly mimic Darth Vader’s breathing
on command, despite lacking the ability to pronounce the character’s name (he
calls him “DuVo”) is both entertaining and somewhat disturbing.

So there’s been a lot of Star Wars in my house lately. A
lot of books and comics, a lot of scene watching, a lot of jawa requests. And
being inundated with even more Star Wars than usual (which really is saying
something), is making me revisit my earlier introspections on the subject, not
to mention confront (once again) the shortfalls and mental hurdles of my own
“little space thing” (to use Lucas’s phrase)…i.e. my space opera RPG.

Last Thursday I was really excited to get out to my
Thursday night game session and try another play-test session with my space
opera RPG. Unfortunately, I got sick Thursday morning and was worse by the
evening and wasn’t able to get out. THIS week, the dilemma’s a little
different: I’m in perfect health, but the Seattle Seahawks are playing the San
Francisco 49ers for control of the division and 5:20pm (PST). I mean…what the
hell am I supposed to do with THAT? Despite being an underdog, Seattle has a
real opportunity to punch the 49ers in the mouth the same as the Giants did on
Sunday…and I’d hate to miss that.

[for whatever reason, I’ve really grown to loathe Frisco
over the last few years. They seem to now occupy that special bile duct that
used to be reserved for the Denver Broncos and John Elway back when the
Seahawks were in the AFC West. It’s not just that I want to see the ‘Hawks at
the top of the heap every year; I want to see them stomp the Niners on the way
there. Last season’s double-loss to San Fran really hurt the ol’ pride]

…an entire year after he finished his first treatment,
Lucas emerged with a rough draft screenplay. It was called “The Star Wars” and
was dated May 1974…Jan Helander summarized the rough draft:

Kane Starkiller, a Jedi-Bendu master, is in hiding on the
Fourth Moon of Utapau with his two sons Annikin and Deak, when a Sith warrior
finds them and Deak is killed. The surviving Starkillers head to the Aquilae
system, where they are met by Kane’s old Jedi friend, General Luke Skywalker.
Kane, whose war-battered body is a concoction of artificial limbs, knows that
he is dying, and persuades Luke to become Annikin’s Jedi teacher. He then
travels to the city of Gordon, leaving his son with Skywalker and the King of
Aquilae. Clieg Whitsun, a rebel spy on the emperor’s planet of Alderaan, has
learned that an Imperial fleet, led by General Darth Vader and Governor Crispin
Hoedaack, is about to conquer Aquilae with a “death star” space fortress. Rebel
fighters are sent out to stop the attack, but the Aquilaen king is killed, and
instead of Princess Leia (the rightful heir), a corrupt senator takes over,
surrendering the planet to the Empire.

Annikin, Luke, and Whitsum, joined by Artwo Detwo and See
Threepio (two bickering robots who have escaped from the space fortress), bring
Leia and her two younger brothers to the spaceport at Gordon, from where they
can reach safety. After a fight at a cantina, where Skywalker uses his “lasersword”
to kill his antagonists, the group meet up with Kane and his alien friend Han
Solo who have arranged transport to a friendly planet. They need a power unit
for suspended animation in order to get past Imperial scanners, and Kane
heroically rips one from his body, causing his death. After avoiding a trap set
by Vader and Prince Valorum (the black Knight of the Sith), the rebels are
pursued into space, where the arguing Leia and Annikin realize that they love
each other. Their craft is damaged in an asteroid field and Whitsum dies as it
explodes, but the others abandon ship in time and land on the jungle planet of
Yavin, where Leia is captured by alien trappers. Annikin tries to rescue her,
but only succeeds in freeing five “Wookees” (huge, grey and furry beasts), and
Leia eventually ends up in the hands of the Empire.

After a tip from two anthropologists, the rebels and the
Wookee tribe (including Prince Chewbacca) attack an Imperial outpost, and a
forest chase ensues. When he learns that Leia is held captive aboard the space
fortress, General Skywalker starts traiing Wookees to fly fighter ships in
order to conquer the death star. Annikin is skeptical of the plan and gets onto
the fortress (together with Artwo) on a mission of his own, dressed as an Imperial
“skyraider,” but he is soon captured and tortured by General Vader. Valorum
sees this and realizes that the Imperials are completely without honor and
codes, and that he has more in common with the young Jedi than with the
emperor. Turning his back on the Empire, he frees both Annikin and Leia, and
they escape down a garbage chute. After almost being crushed in the garbage
receptacle, Valorum, Leia, Annikin, and Artwo manage to abandon the station
just before the Wookee destroy it, killing both Vader and Governor Hoedaack.
Back in her throne room, Queen Leia honours the heroes (including Valorum), and
Annikin is appointed new Lord Protector of Aquilae.

Now as Kaminski points out A)this is the script Lucas
refers to in his later interviews as being too big for a single movie requiring
a paring down until he could later afford to make sequels containing “the whole
story,” yet B) the story included in this draft is little more than a larger,
“extended version” of the original (first) Star Wars movie. Certain characters
are combined, names are changed around, and certain scenes/sequences are
recycled into later movies (like the “asteroid belt/love scene” in Empire or
the “forest world capture/buddying up with native creatures” in RotJ). Lucas’s
later declaration that his ability to make the “rest of the movie” meant an
ability to continue a saga that included all that “stuff” he left on the
cutting room floor in his need to create a FILM…"films" being stories told with
pictures that have to follow certain parameters due to the restrictions
imposed by the medium.

What Lucas had PRIOR to his (most consider) masterful final draft is a
rambling, rollicking Sci-Fi adventure film, almost like a conglomeration of a
serial matinee (c.f. Flash Gordon). Film gave Lucas the big budget to do the
kind of F/X epic he wanted, but not the SCOPE he wanted. And while the clamor
for “more” gave him the latitude to glom onto the scope (through a serial,
sequel format…see The Lord of the Rings films), the medium STILL constrained
him to a degree. There is SOME “cliffhanger” to the end of The Empire Strikes
Back, but there is some denouement as well. It still has a beginning, middle,
an end, it still has most of its plot points wrapped-up, it is still
“self-contained.”

HOWEVER, I am not a film maker. I am (marginally) a
“game designer” interested in long-term game play that includes character
development over time and game play, and for me the “rambling serial format” is
what I want. I don’t want or need “self-contained stories” because I’m not working
in a film medium and (in my experience) that’s not how RPG sessions generally
unfold…at least, not without very specific ("Story Now") rules sets, or a lot of
heavy-handed GM force. Neither of which I like to use (because self-contained
stories aren’t all that important to me when role-playing).

Consequently, I find these kinds of rambling,
“schlock-inspired” treatments to be incredibly inspiring for my purposes. The
quote above leaves out a lot of other “intriguing differences” in Lucas’s
original story from the final film (said differences being described in Kaminski's book) including the competing Jedi and Sith
groups (basically, two orders of rival warriors, more honor-driven a la samurai than
driven by the mystic morality of Light and Dark side). Which is why, of course,
I ordered the book…I want MORE of this stuff. To me, the mind of George Lucas
is a fertile gold mine of Sci-Fi fantasy; if he falls down at all, it’s in
trying to put it into some sort of rational, thoughtful format instead of just
going with the gonzo wa-hoo.

Well, and also in trying to ret-con his own history, a victim
of his own success. That’s just trying to serve us “toast” in a vacuum-sealed
bag. That’s not toast, man.

Sunday, October 14, 2012

The New England Patriots roll into Seattle today; the second time the Waa-aagh will be hosting a dark elf team this season (the first, of course, was against the Darkside...er, Dallas Cowboys, and we all now how that went...). But Belichick is a might sneakier than Jason Garrett...we'll see if Gronkowski and Welker can tear up the middle with their slants and slots against the weakest part of our D.

I say "weakest" part, but there isn't a whole lot of weakness on a team with the #1 ranked defense after five weeks of regular season play. On the other hand, the Pats have the #1 ranked offense in the NFL for the same period...truly a match-up of the "unstoppable force versus the immovable object." For those fortunate enough to have TV coverage, it promises to be a good game.

Though I wouldn't bet on anyone facing the Seattle Wa-agh for the first time. Being in different conferences, the Patriots only visit Seattle once every eight years...and the last time they did so, Tom Brady was injured (Matt Cassell started that day, for those who are curious). Brady has never thrown a single pass at Da Clink. And if the rain falls as promised, this could be a rough outing for him.

Personally, though, I think the real battle will be won or lost on the other side of the ball. All the damn Russell Wilson apologists who complain about us nay-sayers not giving the rookie a fair shake for "keeping us in every game" are friggin' deluded. The defense has kept us in every game...and the running attack has been strong in every match-up (Lynch leads all backs and the Seattle run offense is #3 in the NFL). It is the passing game that has continually fallen short. This week, the orks don't face a porous Carolina defense, but the nightmare schemes of one of the darkest minds to craft a defense...a twisted and cunning intellect, unafraid of stooping to vile tricks and opportunist tactics. And you've got to think Dark Lord Bill is going to have quite a package dreamed up for our short-stuff rookie.

I'm still picking the Seahawks to win, of course (they ARE playing at home, after all), and I will be putting my support behind our QB...wholeheartedly, let me add (I just hope I'm not yelling "Wilson!!" in dismay too many times...as I have in every game thus far). I am hopeful Russ can rise to the level of the competition this week...and the dark elves are indeed powerful competition.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Was watching the ESPN "Sports Center" with my non-gamer wife the other evening to hear the football highlights (I managed to convert my lovely spouse to a loyal Seahawks follower some years back, despite her childhood love affair with Joe Montana and Steve Young), and she had this to say:

"Why can't OUR quarterback play like that?"

Referring, of course, to our crappy-crappy rookie QB who is bringing down the whole value of an otherwise championship caliber team. Yes, Wilson has shown improvement...but "improvement" isn't good enough when you paid $20 million for Matt Flynn and never gave him a chance to start. That's bullshit.

THEN she said:

"We need to get a vampire for our team."

Referring of course to Blood Bowl (my wife having played more than a few games in Ye Old Blackrazor's Blood Bowl league).

Now she then did go onto say that Count Luthor was a far better ball-handler than quarterback/passer, but I still think her point is a valid one...we need to put a high-priced star player in to lead this team, not a 3rd round rook. Obviously, though, Pete Carroll has never played Blood Bowl.

I have now formally removed myself from WotC's "D&D Next" play-test because:

a) I haven't had the time or inclination to read any of their stuff since week 1 or 2, let alone do any actual play-testing and,
b) I really have no intererst in supporting them.

In other news, I seem to be losing blog followers left-and-right...it would probably help if I posted something every once in a while. Sorry, folks...it's been busy.

However, I said I would be too busy to post shortly after my son was born, and in the last 20 months I've still managed to get SOME content up on the blog. (*sigh*) It's just been tough...what with work and parenting and all the stresses that come with both, my energy (and imagination) for blogging has been limited. In fact, my "writing brain" itself has been a bit curtailed of late, though I do still have the occasional idea popping into my head...if not the actual gumption or time to get it down on paper.

Ah, well. Just wanted to put up a quick note. By the way, I HATE the new blogger interface...it makes me want to punch the computer in the mouth.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

So I was recently flooded with a rash of orders for my most recent book The Complete B/X Adventurer which immediately made me figure Mr. Maliszewski over at Grognardia must have gotten around to doing a review (he purchased a copy a few weeks back, but I generally don't solicit reviews and I know he's got an already busy blogging schedule so I haven't been bugging him). Lo and behold, there it is...not nearly as favorable as his review for my earlier B/X Companion, but still fairly complimentary and I am extremely appreciative of his kind words.

One thing though that he pointed out...and that I have had others point out as well, both in on-line reviews and pointed emails...is the issue of damage for firearms (rules for which are included in the book). True, I generally use the "all weapons do D6 damage" standard rule in my own B/X games, but I did have a variable damage option in my original firearms blog post (from which the section in the book is derived). Unfortunately, the single sentence got "eaten" by an illustration of a flintlock that I threw into the text, and none of my proof readers caught the omission (and why would they? They were mainly checking for grammar and spelling errors).

So here it is, for those who'd like it...sorry about the delay (it will be corrected in future printings, I promise!):

If using the optional Variable Weapon Damage rule, all weapons listed here do 1D8damage.

All right, hope that answers that. Of course, not having such a sentence, people who buy the book can freely pencil in whatever damage they feel is appropriate for their own game, and certainly one might consider D6 or D10 to be a fair range of damage potential. I mean, whatever floats your goat, right?